The image above displays the delicate planetary nebula PN Ju 1, also known as the Soap Bubble Nebula.  This faint object was relatively recently discovered on July 6, 2008^[1] by amateur astronomer Dave Jurasevich using a 160mm refractor^[2].  The discovery was confirmed and reported to the IAU by Keith Quattrocchi and Mel Helm on July 17, 2008^[1].  The nebula has been assigned the official designation of PN G75.5+1.7^[2,3].  The Soap Bubble is very faint, relatively small, (4' 20" in diameter) and embedded in diffuse nebulosity^[2], which probably is the reason it was not discovered until 2008^[2,3].

The nebula lies approximately 4 to 5 thousand light-years from the Earth^[2] in the northern constellation Cygnus the Swan^[1].  The Soap Bubble Nebula is situated very close to the more prominent Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888)^[3].  This, along with it faintness, may help explain why this remarkable object has been largely overlooked by many amateur astrophotographers.

The Soap Bubble is a nearly perfect spherical shell^[2] of ionized gas.  Narrowband (Ha and OIII) filters were used to bring out detail in the tenuous shell and surrounding nebulosity.  Wideband (Red, Green, and Blue) filters were used to bring out the star colors in a near true color rendition.

The above image is orientated with north up and east to the left.  Image integration and processing were accomplished using the software applications PixInsight^TM and Photoshop^TM.  The image was assembled by mapping Ha to red and OIII to blue and green.  The stars were overlaid with data from a red, green, and blue filtered image.  This method of assembly produces a near true color version of the displayed object.